Zoetis Inc. (/zō-EH-tis/) is an American

drug company The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...

, the world's largest producer of

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

and

vaccinations Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

for

pets A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...

and

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

. The company was a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

, the world's largest drug maker, but with Pfizer's spinoff of its 83% interest in the firm it is now a completely independent company. The company directly markets its products in approximately 45 countries, and sells them in more than 100 countries. Operations outside the United States accounted for 50% of the total revenue. Contemporaneous with the spinoff in June 2013

S&P Dow Jones Indices S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC () is a joint venture between S&P Global, the CME Group, and News Corp that was announced in 2011 and later launched in 2012. It produces, maintains, licenses, and markets stock market indices as benchmarks and as the ...

announced that Zoetis would replace

First Horizon National Corporation First Horizon Corporation is a bank holding company based in Memphis, Tennessee. Its banking subsidiary, First Horizon (formerly First Tennessee), is the largest bank in Tennessee and the fourth largest regional banking company in the Southeast. ...

in the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of D ...

stock market index.

History

1950s to 2000s

In the 1950s, Pfizer began research on several drugs, including

oxytetracycline Oxytetracycline is a broad-spectrum tetracycline antibiotic, the second of the group to be discovered. Oxytetracycline works by interfering with the ability of bacteria to produce essential proteins. Without these proteins, the bacteria cannot g ...

, which was found to be effective in livestock. In 1952, the Pfizer Agriculture Division opened a 732-acre

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

facility in

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

, called Vigo. By 1988 the division was renamed Pfizer Animal Health. The 1995 acquisition of Norden Laboratories from

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the ten ...

expanded Pfizer's animal health division into small animal care, including domestic pets. Secondary research and development centres were opened in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

, in 2003. In the same year, Pfizer acquired Pharmacia Corporation for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

60 billion in

stock option In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the ''holder'', the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified dat ...

s. Between 2007 and 2011, the company acquired Embrex Inc, Catapult Genetics, Bovigen,

Wyeth Wyeth, LLC was an American pharmaceutical company. The company was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1860 as ''John Wyeth and Brother''. It was later known, in the early 1930s, as American Home Products, before being renamed to Wyeth in ...

, Fort Dodge Animal Health, Vetnex Animal Health Ltd, Synbiotics Corporation, Microtek,

King Pharmaceuticals King Pharmaceuticals, is a pharmaceutical company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer based in Bristol, Tennessee. Before being acquired by Pfizer, it was the world's 39th largest pharmaceutical company. On October 12, 2010, King was acquired by ...

, and Alpharma.

2010s to present

Plans to break away Pfizer Animal Health into a separate company were officially announced in 2012. The new firm was named Zoetis in allusion to the Latin-derived

zoological Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and dis ...

term ''

zoetic ''Zoetic'' is the sixth studio album by The Rocket Summer. Aviate Records released the album on February 26, 2016. Background Avary made the album in Los Angeles, California, where he did all the work on this album by himself, while he wrote 50 s ...

'', meaning "pertaining to life". Zoetis Inc.'s revenues exceeded $4.2 billion in 2011 and $4.34 billion in 2012. The animal health industry worldwide is an estimated

22 billion industry. On May 22, 2013, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' reported that Pfizer planned to sell its majority stake in the company. According to the report, shareholders will have the option to swap their Pfizer shares for Zoetis shares. The sell-off of Zoetis is consistent with Pfizer's recent decision to shed other non-pharmaceuticals subsidiaries in an effort to save costs, raise capital, and pay off debt. The company has announced that

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

, Goldman Sachs & Co., and

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

will be the lead underwriters. In November 2014, activist investor

Bill Ackman William Albert Ackman (born May 11, 1966) is an American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager. He is the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company. His investment approach makes him an activis ...

disclosed that

Pershing Square Capital Management Pershing Square Capital Management is an American hedge fund management company founded and run by Bill Ackman, headquartered in New York City. Company history In 2004, with $54 million in funding from his personal funds and former business part ...

had taken an 8.5% stake in the company, amassing approximately 41.8 million shares, causing the share price to hit its highest price since the IPO. On 17 November, the company announced it would acquire a portfolio of pet drugs from

Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known dr ...

for approximately $255 million.

2012: IPO

Records show that Pfizer officially filed for registration of a Class A stock with the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

on August 10, 2012. Zoetis'

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

on February 1, 2013 sold 86.1 million shares for

2.2 billion. Shares sharply rose 19% by the end of the trading day to $35.01 a share, up from $26. At the time, it was the largest IPO from a U.S. company since

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

's $16 billion IPO on May 18, 2012. Pfizer retained 414 million Class B shares giving it an 83% controlling stake in the firm.

Stock investors A stock trader or equity trader or share trader, also called a stock investor, is a person or company involved in trading equity securities and attempting to profit from the purchase and sale of those securities. Stock traders may be an invest ...

were attracted to the steep

profit margin Profit margin is a measure of profitability. It is calculated by finding the profit as a percentage of the revenue. \text = = There are 3 types of profit margins: gross profit margin, operating profit margin and net profit margin. * Gross Prof ...

in proportion to revenue and

consumer confidence Consumer confidence is an economic indicator that measures the degree of optimism that consumers feel about the overall state of the economy and their personal financial situation. If the consumer has confidence in the immediate and near future e ...

in potential future growth of the subsidiary. The offering's lead

underwriters Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...

were

Bank of America Merrill Lynch BofA Securities, Inc., previously Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), is an American multinational investment banking division under the auspices of Bank of America. It is not to be confused with Merrill, the stock brokerage and trading plat ...

and

. Most of the money raised through the IPO was used to pay off existing Pfizer debt.

Acquisitions

In November 2015, the company announced it would acquire a developer of aquaculture treatments and diseases, Pharmaq, for $765 million. In 2017, Zoetis acquired Ireland-based Nexvet, a company with a biologics focused technology and product candidate pipeline. In May 2018, the company announced its intention to acquire

Abaxis Abaxis was an American medical technology company that specialized in point-of-care blood testing for both human and veterinary purposes. It is noted for its attempt at developing a portable blood analyzer that can immediately yield data for docto ...

for $1.9 billion in cash. In August 2021, Zoetis announced it would buy Jurox, increasing the business' presence in New Zealand, the US, Canada and the UK. In June 2022, Zoetis acquired Basepaws, a privately held genetics company, to strengthen its portfolio of precision animal health solutions.

Products

Twenty-eight sites in 11 countries make up Zoetis manufacturing network, each facility designed to meet chemical and infectious agent safety regulatory requirements. Many R&D operations are co-located with manufacturing sites, a collaboration that allows bringing new products to market faster. Zoetis builds on six-decade Pfizer history and aims for high-tech innovative manufacturing technologies. Zoetis products include:Pfizer Animal Health Products
* Cerenia * Convenia * Dectomax * Draxxin * Excede * Excenel * Histostat *

Mycitracin Neomycin/polymyxin B/bacitracin, also known as triple antibiotic ointment, is a medication used to reduce the risk of cellulitis, infections following minor skin injuries. It contains three antibiotics: neomycin, polymyxin B, and bacitracin. It ...

* Palladia * Pirsue * A180 * Revolution Pet Medicine * Rimadyl * Sileo * Simplicef * Slentrol *

Stronghold A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

* Synulox

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Morris County, New Jersey Pharmaceutical companies established in 1952 Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Research and development in the United States Madison, New Jersey Pharmaceutical companies based in New Jersey Veterinary medicine companies 2013 initial public offerings Corporate spin-offs 1952 establishments in Indiana Pfizer Veterinary medicine in the United States